July 8-10, 2009
Jul 08 04:20 A Loudmouthed Idiot Spouts Off Jul 08 12:52 Drip, Drip, Drip Jul 08 05:28 Democrats' Failed Leadership: The New DFL Jul 08 10:34 Obama's Katrina? It's the Economy Stupid Jul 08 17:04 It's the Jobs Stupid Jul 09 07:01 Walz Abandons Farmers For San Fran Nan Jul 09 12:13 Going, Going.... Jul 10 06:29 What's In A Name?
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
A Loudmouthed Idiot Spouts Off
With back-to-back successful election cycles behind them, it's understandable that Democrats would be feeling cocky at this point. Still, arrogance is offputting to the people.
Paul Begala's latest fact free diatribe against the GOP is brimming with arrogance:
I'm sure Republican strategists look at their bench and think of what Casey Stengel said of the 1962 Mets: "Can't anybody here play this game?"Begala would like us to believe that the GOP is devoid of talented people. He'd like people to believe that the GOP is in the early stages of being permanently the minority party, that Democrats are in the early stages of a decades long ascendency. He thought that in 1993, too. A year later, Bill Clinton hired Dick Morris to straighten out the mess that Begala and Carville created.
David Vitter is on the D.C. Madam's call list. John Ensign confesses to an affair with a staffer. Mark Sanford cries for his soul mate in Argentina. And now Sarah Palin calls it quits.
The Republican Party was once a solid, serious, stable group of people. It was the party of Eisenhower, of Ford, and not too long ago, the party of Colin Powell. Now it's got more flakes than Post Toasties.
Simply put, Mr. Begala is a loudmouthed idiot who makes a living by being obnoxious.
Recently, Scott Rasmussen's polling of the Generic Ballot Question has shown the GOP staying competitive with Begala's beloved Democrats. Quinnipiac's latest polling shows that people have lost so much faith in President Obama's handling of the economy that it'll likely get a bunch of vulnerable Democrats defeated in Ohio, including Gov. Strickland.
For all Begala's yapping about GOP incompetence, he's awfully blind towards the Democrats' growing credibility problems on the economy, especially considering Vice President Biden's admission that they didn't pick the right solution for fixing the economy. Things won't improve either when people read about Laura D'Andrea Tyson's call for a bigger, more focused stimulus plan.
Theoretically speaking, what does it say about Democrats that Republicans are staying competitive with them when Republicans are supposedly committing political suicide? In reality, it doesn't say anything about them because that isn't the right question.
Here's the right question: What does it say about Mr. Begala's analytical skills and his humility?
Simply put, it says that he's an loudmouthed idiot who doesn't know when to shut up.
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 4:22 AM
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Drip, Drip, Drip
Each day, more evidence presents itself that President Obama's aura is disappearing. The latest proof is this Rasmussen polling . It's the worst approval rating he's had thus far.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of ; 5. The number who strongly disapprove inched up another point to the highest level measured to date and the overall Approval Index is at the lowest level yet for Obama.That's the worst approval/disapproval rating that Rasmussen has had for President Obama since the start of his administration. Couple that with the news that President Obama's approval in Ohio dropped 13 points in two months and it's impossible to argue that there's a pattern emerging. The title that I'd give to that pattern is drip, drip, drip.
President Obama's personal ratings are still staying high. That hasn't prevented voters from compartmentalizing things to the point that they can like him and passionately disagree with his policies. In this respect, too, he's the anti-Bush. President Bush's popularity was low but his initiatives passed even with a hostile congress.
Ed's posted that the White House is worried that their ratings will drop further because people don't think the stimulus is working:
Barack Obama's economic advisers demanded fast action, rather than reasoned debate and negotiation, to adopt their recommendations in order to avoid a spike in unemployment in the near term . They got what they wanted, a spending plan that funded just about every liberal fantasy of the last 30 years, save universal health care, and it didn't do anything to stop rapid unemployment.President Obama should expect to see support for his initiatives erosion as more people see his policies not helping them. There's multiple reasons for the voters' disillusionment but perhaps the biggest reason was the high expectations he entered office with. I suspect that the next biggest reason for voters' disillusionment is that President Obama overpromised what his stimulus bill would do. If there's anything that'll get people upset with, it's when someone promises results, then falls far short of that promise.
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:57 PM
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Democrats' Failed Leadership: The New DFL
This past January, the Strib's Mark Brunswick wrote that the DFL leadership was pinning their hopes on stimulus money to balance Minnesota's budget. I said then that that sounded like a flimsy budget blueprint :
Wishing for the arrival of hundreds of millions of dollars from a bloated stimulus package isn't an economic plan. It's just throwing tons of money at a problem, which is what Democrats have done forever.The DFL's reliance on the Obama administration's irresponsible spending verifies the fact that the DFL's leadership, if it can be called that, on the economy is disappointing, if not almost nonexistent.
This calls into question the DFL's economic plans. It isn't unreasonable to think that their plan is built on the federal government's irresponsible spending plan and increasing state taxes. Where's the sustained job creation in that? What's going to help families regain their footing? What's going to help families save for retirement?
The DFL didn't bother with putting a detailed plan together. Instead, they insisted on "working off of Gov. Pawlenty's budget." In reality, the DFL spent several months criticizing Gov. Pawlenty's budget before devoting the last month of the session to passing a budget that spent $34,000,000,000 and that called for either $920,000,000 or $1,500,000,000 or $2,200,000,000 in tax increases. The DFL leadership did this even though they were told that revenues for this biennium without their job-killing tax increases was projected to be $30,700,000,000.
Then the DFL whined when Gov. Pawlenty, various members of the media and some in their own party didn't take the DFL's budget seriously.
Other than scale, how is the DFL's priorities different than the Obama administration's priorities? The Obama administration's priorities don't include saying no to any of their political allies' wish lists. (See ARRA.) The DFL's priorities don't include saying no to any of their political allies' wish lists. (See their instructions for their activists .)
The bottom line is that the DFL's leadership is as bereft of economic solutions as the Obama administration is. The only difference I've seen is that the Obama administration actually put a budget together, albeit a severely overbloated budget.
The DFL's 'budget' essentially consists of this: raise taxes, pay off political allies and pray for irresponsible levels of federal spending. What it doesn't consist of is a pathway to sustained prosperity, any meaningful reforms or proof that they're willing to say no to their special interest allies.
I'd submit that that isn't leadership. I'd further submit that it's governance by special interest allies.
Finally, I'd submit that it doesn't include putting a priority on the things that main street Minnesotans' needs.
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 5:28 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 08-Jul-09 09:27 AM
I'm still wondering: Does the Governor's budget, as passed by the Legislature and after unallotment, still plan on spending that "federal money" that has yet to be printed? I mean, you can't pay the State's bills with IOUs, can you?
Obama's Katrina? It's the Economy Stupid
According to Jim Pinkerton's article , the economy is President Obama's Katrina moment:
The economy is shaping up to be Barack Obama's Katrina. If President George W. Bush was blamed for his slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there was plenty of blame to go around, of course, but the disaster was on Bush's watch, then Obama will get the blame for his slow response to the current recession. The difference, of course, is that Katrina afflicted a city and a few states, while the recession afflicts the whole country.I can't argue that the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled congress didn't act swiftly after getting sworn into office. I CAN argue, though, that they only acted swiftly to pay off their political allies. Similarly, I can argue that the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled congress didn't act swiftly to right the struggling American economy. They still haven't.
Unemployment is 9.5 percent and rising fast, certain to go higher than 10 percent. And what is the federal government doing about it? Not much. And so House Republican Leader John Boehner makes a good point when he asks, "Where are the jobs?"
On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden said that the Obama administration had "misread" the economic indicators. So what are they likely to do about it? More of the same, which is to say, not much.
In fact, Vice President Biden's comments this weekend suggest that they still don't have the answers for righting this economy. This is what passes for leadership in today's Democratic Party:
Democrats are starting to notice that the fiscal contraption of government leaks more fuel than it burns. "We're disappointed," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on "FOX News Sunday." We're looking at ways to get the money out more quickly.With unemployment already sitting at 9.5%, with the recession dragging on longer than the longest deep recession, people are looking for answers. Thus far, the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled congress haven't implemented anything that remotely resembles a plan to jumpstart the economy. In fact, President Obama made this troubling remark :
"So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That's the whole point. No seriously. (Laughter.) That's the point. (Applause.)"Based on that quote, Obamanomics simply consists of spending hundreds of billions of dollars without focusing that spending on anything that makes industries productive. It's spending hundreds of billions of dollars without a plan or a productive objective.
Ohioans have already figured it out that President Obama doesn't have a plan that will start us on the path to prosperity . More states will follow shortly. If that happens soon, the Obama administration's road to credibility will get significantly steeper.
People don't blame President Obama for starting this recession but they're starting to blame him for not providing the solution for ending this recession. I suspect that the White House is aware of that and is starting to panic. They know that the moment that their credibility heads south is the minute that their agenda dies.
That doesn't mean they won't keep pushing, though:
Thus the "cap-and-trade" legislation, which passed two weeks ago in the House of Representatives, is a perfect exemplar of the modern Democratic mindset: The green environmentalists are happy, because carbon-based energy production is restricted, and greenback-minded Wall Streeters are happy, too, because traders will make billions trading trillions' worth of funny-money carbon contracts.This unholy alliance will reach critical mass at some point. Whether that's sooner rather than later ins't known right now but I'm betting it's sooner, not later. I'm not alone in that thinking either:
But there is a catch: People don't have jobs now, and they won't get them in the future if Obama spends money that doesn't stimulate, and then seeks to choke what remains of the productive economy through environmental regulation.
Overall, 52 percent now say the stimulus package has succeeded or will succeed in restoring the economy, compared with 59 percent two months ago. The falloff in confidence has been sharpest in the hard-hit Midwest, where fewer than half now see the government spending as succeeding. In April, six in 10 Midwesterners said the federal program had worked or would do so.In March, Republicans criticized Pelosi's cronies while they criticized policies that President Obama supported. Now that much of the blume is off the Obama administration's proverbial rose, people are criticizing President Obama directly. They're no longer walking on eggshells. Instead, they're speaking frankly.
NOTICE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Great sounding speeches don't mean alot right now. Results matter. People are watching. Finally, you're being rated by results, not great sounding speeches.
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 10:39 AM
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It's the Jobs Stupid
When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, the Clinton War Room's bulletin board had a simple message on it: It's the economy Stupid. Their strategy and focus made Bill Clinton a two-term president. These days, while the Obama administration tries juggling several major pieces of legislation, the American people are sending a clear message: It's the jobs, stupid. This transcript from CNN's morning show should scare the Democrats:
CNN'S KIRAN CHETRY: Back here at home with unemployment at its highest level in more than a quarter century, Republicans pouncing. CNN's Jim Acosta is live in Washington this morning. The Republicans releasing a new ad and saying that the stimulus isn't working.There's a bunch of astonishing statements in that segment but none more astonishing than President Obama saying they wouldn't change anything in the stimulus. During the campaign, President Obama had great timing and a pitch perfect message. Now, he's sounding desperately out of touch with the American people's priorities.
CNN'S JIM ACOSTA: Yes, that's right, Kiran. A whole lot of barking here in Washington as we are about to show you. With the President overseas, Republicans here in Washington believe they have found Mr. Obama's Achilles heel, the economy. Top GOP leaders are pointing to recent conflicting statements coming out of the White House on the stimulus, asking once again whether it was the right approach to ending the recession.
(Begin "Where Are the Jobs?" Web Video)
VOICE OF REP. LYNN WESTMORELAND (R-GA): Where are the jobs? We put the dogs on the money trail to find out.
ACOSTA: In the latest sign the economy is in the doghouse, Republicans are sicking their bloodhounds on the stimulus with this video that asks, where are the jobs?
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): I'm John Boehner. This is Ellie Mae. She hasn't found any stimulus jobs yet, and neither have the American people.
(End "Where Are the Jobs?" Web Video)
ACOSTA: It's an issue that dogged the President all the way to Russia where Mr. Obama clarified statements made by his own Vice President on the recession.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: There was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited.
ACOSTA: Not exactly, according to the President.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I would actually, rather than say "misread," we had incomplete information.
ACOSTA: Who still believes the stimulus was the right call.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: There's nothing that we would have done differently.
ACOSTA: But Republicans point to President Obama's dire warnings back in February when he urged the Congress to pass the stimulus.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We're moving quickly because we're told that if we don't move quickly, that the economy is going to keep on getting worse. We'll have another two or three or four million jobs lost this year.
ACOSTA: Turns out even with the stimulus, the economy has shed 3.4 million jobs in just six months. While the President says he's now open to a second stimulus, one of his top economic advisors is already calling for one. Laura D'Andrea Tyson told an economic seminar in Singapore "we should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus." Republicans say the White House can't get its story straight.
When CNN's reporter asks if anyone "still believes the stimulus was the right call", things have headed quite a ways south for President Obama from where they were in late October through the first Tuesday of November.
That isn't the only thing that the Obama administration should be worried about but it's one of the big things they should be worried about.
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 5:08 PM
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Walz Abandons Farmers For San Fran Nan
When Tim Walz ran in 2006, he said he'd be an independent voice for his constituents. When he voted for the National Energy Tax right before the 4th of July Recess, he essentially said that he'd abandon the farmers in Minnesota's First District if that's what Nancy Pelosi wanted.
Tony Sutton, the new chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, called Walz out for that in this op-ed :
Congress recently passed a "cap-and-trade" bill more formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. For the sake of clarity, let's call "cap and trade" what it really is, a huge, job-killing national energy tax.Tim Walz has been carrying Nancy Pelosi's water since his swearing in. His first assignment from Speaker Pelosi was to co-sponsor minimum wage legislation that exempted StarKist Tuna from the increase. Coincidentally, StarKist is headquartered in Pelosi's district.
So why did Congressman Tim Walz choose stick it to the farmers and working families of southern Minnesota? Because he put loyalty to his party ahead of the interests of the people of southern Minnesota.
Thus it isn't surprising that Rep. Walz would genuflect before Queen Nancy when she needed his vote to pass the National Energy Tax.
Let's set a couple things straight about the National Energy Tax bill. First, it isn't about the environment. That isn't my opinion. That's Professor Bob Weisman's opinion :
Despite disagreeing with him "100 percent, politically," Weisman said he agreed with Horner that the Obama administration's cap-and-trade program likely won't do anything to effect climate change. " Like the Kyoto treaty, it won't bring down global warming," Weisman said. "You'd need something more like a 40 percent cut in emissions (to do that). "With China and India stating that they won't cut greenhouse gas emissions, it's impossible to reach that 40 percent emission reduction. In fact, those emissions will continue to increase for the forseeable future. Tim Walz's vote won't do a thing to protect 'the environment' but it will cost people in Minnesota's First District money whenever they pump gas, when they heat their homes and when they buy groceries.
That's because the National Energy Tax will " necessarily cause " energy prices to skyrocket. It's also a bill that Rep. John Dingell said is a tax "and a great big one."
QUESTION FOR REP. WALZ: Why would you subject your constituents to such a horrendous tax increase when many of them are struggling through this difficult economy?
It's shameful that Rep. Walz would rather take his orders from Speaker Pelosi than do what's right for his constituents. Might it be that he views his constituents to be the deep-pocketed K Street lobbyists that roam the halls on Capitol Hill?
It's looking more like that each day.
Posted Thursday, July 9, 2009 7:01 AM
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Going, Going....
It's official. President Obama's approval ratings are definitely in a tailspin. That's verified by this morning's Rasmussen polling :
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 30% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of ; 8. The President's Approval Index rating has fallen six points since release of a disappointing jobs report last week.There isn't much President Obama or Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel can do about those ratings, either, with the possible exception of keeping Joe Biden away from the cameras. People have heard the speeches. I suspect that they've developed Obama fatigue, that they're no longer mesmorized by his speechgiving ability. I'm positive that the only want thing they want are results.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) now give the President good or excellent marks for handling the economy while 43% say he is doing a poor job.
This administration's credibility is sinking fast. Karl Rove outlines it perfectly in his weekly WSJ column :
In February, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill while making lavish promises about the results. He pledged that "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America." He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession.At this point, it's foolish to trust President Obama's predictions and statements about the economy. There's nothing that they've done thus far that suggests that they're competent.
But the unemployment rate today is 9.5%, nearly 20% higher than the Obama White House said it would be with the stimulus in place. Keith Hennessey, who worked at the Bush White House on economic policy, has noted that unemployment is now higher than the administration said it would be if nothing was done to revive the economy. There are 2.6 million fewer Americans working than Mr. Obama promised.
This video is devastating:
Last fall, President Obama's speeches were pitch perfect. Now he's saying things that are downright infuriating to people who've lost their jobs since he signed the stimulus bill into law in Denver.
The stimulus bill had to be passed ASAP because it was important to get the money to shovel-ready jobs that would jumpstart the economy. Except that the money is trickling out of Washington at a pace that hasn't gotten the jobs flowing. It's time we can't waste.
It's time for a dramatic change of direction, one in a different direction than the one President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are taking us in.
Posted Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:13 PM
Comment 1 by The Lady Logician at 10-Jul-09 08:28 AM
It really is reminiscent of President GHW Bush. I remember how frustrated I was when I kept hearing him say how "good" things were (in that summer 16 years ago) when the company my husband worked for had quit paying it's employees (just before filing for bankruptcy) and the only job I could get being 5 months pregnant was a temporary job that didn't pay enough to pay the utility bills - much less the mortgage.
LL
What's In A Name?
Collin Peterson prides himself on being the leader of the Blue Dog Democrats in the House of Representatives. When he voted against the stimulus bill twice, that seemed to strengthen his right to call himself a moderate Democrat.
That disappeared when Rep. Peterson reversed course and voted for the National Energy Tax, aka Waxman-Markey or ACES Act.
By voting for the National Energy Tax, Rep. Peterson voted to increase taxes on Red River Valley farmers and families. What's more, the tax won't improve the environment :
EPA Administrator Jackson confirmed an EPA analysis showing that unilateral U.S. action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would have no effect on climate. Moreover, when presented with an EPA chart depicting that outcome, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he disagreed with EPA's analysis.There's little evidence that there's a significant difference between Blue Dog Democrats and the supposedly hardline Pelosi Democrats. When Speaker Pelosi needs his vote, she gets it. Since joining Congress in 1991, Rep. Peterson has voted with the Democrats 88 percent of the time.
"I believe the central parts of the [EPA] chart are that U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels," Administrator Jackson said.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) presented the chart to both Jackson and Secretary Chu, which shows that meaningful emissions reductions cannot occur without aggressive action by China, India, and other developing countries. "I am encouraged that Administrator Jackson agrees that unilateral action by the U.S. will be all cost for no climate gain," Sen. Inhofe said. "With China and India recently issuing statements of defiant opposition to mandatory emissions controls, acting alone through the job-killing Waxman-Markey bill would impose severe economic burdens on American consumers, businesses, and families, all without any impact on climate."
Most importantly, Waxman-Markey will hurt farmers with higher gas prices and higher home heating bills at a time when families are struggling through the recession that President Obama's policies have made worse.
Last summer, Rep. Peterson faithfully voted against increased domestic oil and natural gas production.
In short, it's difficult telling the difference between a Blue Dog Democrat and Barney Frank or Dennis Kucinich.
Posted Friday, July 10, 2009 6:29 AM
Comment 1 by Liberty at 10-Jul-09 07:17 AM
Peterson had turned tail on "blue dog" when he voted to support Obama's deficit-riddled budget. That, after stating, "And I can tell you even if they fixed the ag thing and took it all out of there, I am not going to vote for a budget with a $1.75 trillion deficit. I don't give a damn what's in it. It ain't going to happen." Can you say, "Switcheroo"?
Comment 2 by Jean Glover at 10-Jul-09 05:19 PM
Please I urge you to be for the people and support the public option This is what we voted for is change. Get with the democrats on this issue and pass it. Forget about being a blue dog and be a true democrat. thanks Jean
